realme 9 Review; A Great Alternative
INTRODUCTION:
With many smartphone choices available in the market today, it might be overwhelming to narrow down the options for you to get the upgrade you need and deserve. Here's a tip to make this task easier: look at the offerings of the leading brands in the Philippines today – especially
realme. Since its global launch in 2018, the brand has taken the smartphone competition by storm with its back-to-back value-for-money releases.
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| realme 9 Review; A Great Alternative |
When it comes to realme devices, a lineup that's popular among budget-savvy Filipino tech consumers is the
realme 9 series. With the arrival of the
realme 9, the firm's highly competitive midrange series is finally completed. Alongside its siblings – the realme 9 Pro, realme 9 Pro Plus, and the
realme 9i – the realme 9 is yet another strong reason why the brand continues to cement its place on top of the charts. Let's take a look at what it has to offer.
DESIGN and DISPLAY:
Loud is the one word we think is fitting to describe the design language of the
realme 9 – especially if you have the Starburst Gold variant, like what we have for this review. realme maintains the holographic effect common to its smartphones on the rear part of the realme 9 and depending on your design taste, this could be a hit or a miss. There are other toned-down colors if you prefer minimalist hues – Stargaze White and Meteor Black.
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| Sunburst Gold |
The realme 9 poses itself as the usual midrange device. It has a metallic frame build and seamless edges that make one-hand use easy. Of its overall look, one obvious caveat we could point out is its relatively thick chin and prominent bezels that veer away from an all-screen display, but these do not affect the smartphone experience that much.
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| Super AMOLED FHD+ 90Hz Display |
Speaking of its screen, you'll get a 6.4-inch display on a 7.9mm body with the realme 9. It comes in a 1080p resolution with Super AMOLED and 90Hz refresh rate – basically, everything you need in a decently stunning and smooth screen. While we mentioned earlier that its noticeable bezels tend to steal that all-screen look, we appreciate that realme chose to put a punch hole front camera instead of the dated water notch one, so there's more space for the smartphone screen. Plus, there's an in-display fingerprint scanner that does its job instantly and with no delays. If you don't want to use this, there's Face Unlock as an alternative for quick device unlocking.
On the left side of the smartphone sit the volume buttons and a card tray for two nano-sized SIM cards and a microSD card that can carry up to 256GB of extended storage, while on the opposite side is where you'll see its power and lock button. At the top is the smartphone's secondary microphone, while at the bottom are its primary microphone, USB-C port, 3.5 mm audio jack, and a loudspeaker.
realme 9 Pro+ Free Fire Limited Edition review; Ready for the Battle
PERFORMANCE and BATTERY LIFE:
Beneath the eye-catching physique of the
realme 9 runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G chipset. During our first few days of using this device as our main driver, we noticed that this chipset doesn't bring much to gaming, but it's very efficient when it comes to multitasking. While there were slight lags and stutters when we played high-demanding mobile game titles on the realme 9, app switching was a breeze. Part of this is thanks to the smartphone's generous configuration of 6GB RAM coupled with 128GB expandable storage.
Here are the
realme 9 benchmark results for reference.
- Antutu - 291,015
- Geekbench Single-Core - 382
- Geekbench Multi-Core - 1,574
- Geekbench Compute - 431
- PC Mark Work Performance 3.0 - 8,210
- PC Mark Work Storage 2.0 - 20,177
- 3D Mark Wild Life - 451
- 3D Mark Wild Life Stress Test - 446
- 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme - 124
- 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test - 124
- 3D Mark Sling Shot - 2,076
- 3D Mark Sling Shot Extreme - 1,325
Bloatware is present in this device, particularly taking almost 11GB of its storage out of the box, but these apps can be easily uninstalled if unwanted. The realme 9 also comes skinned with the latest realme UI 3.0 on top of Android 12. Convenience and customization features are available, plus this UI brings better security patches than the previous realme UI versions.
Battery efficiency is one of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G's unique selling points, which proves to be true with the realme 9. Its 5,000mAh juice can outstandingly last a whole day of moderate to heavy usage, with a little bit of power for the next day. Another good thing about this smartphone is its light and compact 33W charger, which recharges the smartphone from 0 percent to 100 percent in just a little over an hour. The realme 9 does not support wireless charging, so you'll solely rely on its USB-C port and charger brick.
realme 9 Pro+ Review: All Things Positive
CAMERAS:
realme smartphones are commonly camera-centric. With the
realme 9 4G, you'll get a beautifully placed, protruding triple camera setup consisting of a 108-megapixel Samsung HM6 F1.75 primary sensor, 8-megapixel ultra-wide F2.2 shooter, and a 2-megapixel macro F2.4 lens.
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| 108MP Triple Rear Cameras |
The main camera of the realme 9 4G can take snaps at up to 108-megapixel, but its standard 12-megapixel setting can already bring you good pictures. Like other smartphones under the same price segment, the realme 9 4G captures images with just the right amount of color saturation and clarity when taken in well-lit environments. Close-up shots on the realme 9 4G also came out lovely, bringing subtle blur effects. On the other hand, wide shots tend to look a bit hazy and lack sharpness, especially on the edges.
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| 16MP Front Camera |
Self-portraits on the realme 9 4G look great, thanks to its 16-megapixel camera. Skin tones look natural, and we love how this smartphone produces selfies with a soft bokeh effect.
Similar to the realme 9i and realme 9 Pro, the realme 9 4G can record videos at up to 1080p only and sans a built-in electronic image stabilization.
Camera Samples:
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| Playground, Ultrawide |
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| Playground, 1x Zoom |
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| Playground, 3x Zoom |
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| Playground, Night, Ultrawide |
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| Playground, Night, 1x Zoom |
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| Playground, Night, 3x Zoom |
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| Playground, Night Mode, Ultrawide |
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| Playground, Night Mode, 1x Zoom |
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| Playground, Night Mode, 3x Zoom |
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| Buildings, Ultrawide |
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| Buildings, 1x Zoom |
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| Buildings, 3x Zoom |
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| Buildings, Night, Ultrawide |
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| Buildings, Night, 1x Zoom |
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| Buildings, Night, 3x Zoom |
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| Buildings, Night Mode, Ultrawide |
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| Buildings, Night Mode, 1x Zoom |
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| Buildings, Night Mode, 3x Zoom |
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| Flower, Primary |
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| Flower, Macro |
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| Selfie, Normal |
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| Selfie, Portrait |
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| Selfie, Night, Normal |
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| Selfie, Night Mode |
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| Selfie, Night Mode, Portrait |
realme 9i Review: Get More For Less
FINAL THOUGHTS:
If you're a power user looking for a P14,999 smartphone upgrade, then you can never go wrong with the realme 9. This smartphone is available on realme's official LazMall store, realme branches, and authorized partner dealers all over the Philippines.
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| realme 9 |
How much is the realme 9 price in the Philippines?
When will be the realme 9 available in the Philippines?
- The realme 9 is now available in the Philippines since June 15, 2022.
realme 9 Specs Philippines:
- Dual SIM, dual standby, supports 4G/LTE connectivity
- 6.4-inch FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels) Super AMOLED Display, 90Hz refresh rate, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection
- Dimensions: 160.2mm x 73.3mm x 8mm
- Weight: 178 grams
- realme UI 3.0 based Android 12
- Octa-core (4x2.4GHz Kryo 265 Gold + 4x1.9GHz Kryo 265 Silver) CPU, Adreno 610 GPU, Qualcomm SM6225 Snapdragon 680 4G 6nm chipset
- 6GB RAM
- 128GB storage, expandable up to 512GB via MicroSD, uses a dedicated slot
- 108MP f/1.8 PDAF main + 8MP ultrawide + 2MP macro triple rear cameras, 1080p video recording at 30fps
- 16MP f/2.5 front camera, 1080p video recording at 30fps
- WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
- Bluetooth v5.1
- USB Type-C 2.0 with OTG function
- GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, Galileo
- Multimedia Player
- Hi-Res Audio
- 3.5mm audio jack
- Sensors: fingerprint (under-display), light, proximity, accelerometer, gyroscope
- Battery: 5,000mAh non-removable lithium-ion polymer; supports 33W fast charging
- Colors: Meteor Black, Sunburst Gold, Stargaze White
- Price: Php14,999
